Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Athletes tend to go through some extremes to prepare. While many are able to follow a prescribed piece of science, some realize they need to find their own way to build the engine but also the belief that what they attempt is possible.
Every week for two years, Vittoria Bussi did a one-hour all-out effort in the velodrome. It was less about the ideal training than a being a rehearsal. Full dress rehearsal - same warm-up, same nutrition, testing all the details and gear she’d use on the day. If you’ve done an all out effort for an hour, you know how extreme this is.
She’s was training her legs, sure. But for her it was all about her nerves, getting comfortable being uncomfortable and “not being scared”. Physiologically, a max-effort hour every week for two years is not what anyone would prescribe. But that’s not really what she’s doing. It’s resilience through repeated exposure. Make the unbearable familiar enough that when the actual day comes, there’s nothing left to surprise you.
No coach would write it into a programme, and the science argues against it on about five different grounds - but that wasn’t really the point. She needed to know, completely and without doubt, that she’d left nothing to chance. You can follow the most evidence-based preparation in the world and still stand on the start line feeling like something’s missing. She never did.
Vittoria’s episode is up.
Jan.